1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a resource allocation systems and methods, and more particularly relates to a system and method for allocating the resources of a retailer such as a grocer among a plurality of wholesalers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Retailers typically order anywhere from a few to a relatively large quantity of each of a plurality of items from one or more wholesalers. Many wholesalers have computerized ordering systems which may be linked to retailers by modem or which may receive orders from retailers via computerized files on disks or via a manual order sheet which is input into the wholesaler's computer at the wholesaler's warehouse.
Although retailers may have access to information about the prices being demanded by wholesalers for various products, they have heretofore not been able to economically allocate their resources among more than one warehouse. For example, up until now, if a retailer desired to obtain its products at the lowest possible price, it had to obtain a hard copy of the prices being demanded by each of its suppliers and to manually compare the prices being demanded by its suppliers and to select the lowest-priced supplier based upon this manual comparison. This comparison was rendered more difficult by the fact that most wholesalers offer various rebates to their retailers while at the same time adding shipping costs to the price. Allocating resources so as to obtain products at the lowest net price thus is typically a very time-consuming and uneconomical procedure for most retailers. As a result, many retailers obtain most or all of their products from a single primary wholesaler without any price comparison. This can lead to a very inefficient allocation of resources, particularly in instances in which a retailer is ordering a relatively small number of each of a high number of items.
Even those retailers which do attempt to allocate resources based on price are, as a practical matter, incapable of allocating resources based upon other criterion such as cost per unit weight or per unit volume because such comparisons require still further calculations rendering such comparisons uneconomical. A need therefore exists for economically comparing wholesalers to one another based upon price or some other criterion.
Allocating resources becomes even more difficult when a retailer is obligated by contract, by weight or volume constraints, or by some other criterion to obtain a designated minimum or maximum amount of goods from a particular supplier. Allocating resources among one or more suppliers under this type of constraint may require a plurality of iterations rendering a useful comparison of suppliers to one another practically impossible. A need therefore exists for automatically allocating the resources of a retailer among various wholesalers while meeting real-world criteria.
Some computerized systems are currently available for permitting comparison among various suppliers. However, none of these systems is designed for use by retailers for ordering products from wholesalers, and none is capable of automatically creating an order file for ordering the goods demanded by the retailer. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,940, which issued to Ross E. Dworkin on Feb. 12, 1991, discloses an automated system permitting consumers to compare the goods being offered by one or more vendors and to obtain a listing of various information about price and availability of the product. U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,506, which issued to Brockwell et al. on Nov. 5, 1991, discloses a similar system for permitting a manufacturing facility to optimize its cost when ordering parts from various suppliers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,165, which issued to Schumacher et al. on Oct. 22, 1991, discloses a computerized system for optimizing mail processing by matching publisher and printer entities. None of the systems disclosed in these patents is suitable for use by a retailer when ordering parts from a wholesaler and none is capable of creating order files for such wholesalers. In addition, none of the systems disclosed in these patents is capable of allocating resources while still obtaining the required maximum or minimum value from a particular supplier.